It was a masterstroke by the publishers of this facsimile edition to have Des Pawson write the foreword. Not simply becauseofhisnotoriety,butbecausehehasverysuccinctlypointedtotheelementswhichmakethisvolumesovaluable. Of course, the reader will not get the benefit until he has purchased the book, so it behoves this reviewer to quote some ofhisopinion.

IntheUKin1904itwasthemostcomprehensivebookonknotsavailable.Thusitsetsintimelycontext the knotting knowledge of the period. It extends the application of knots beyond the purely maritime, giving what are nowunfamiliarnamestosomefamiliarknots.Whilesomeoftheillustrations,particularlyinrespectofsplicingarenot very clear, the advice is sound, such as the benefits of practising with better-laid hemp before struggling with splicing cotton rope which too easily loses its lay.

With a progression from ‘Simple and Useful Knots’, through eyes, hitches, bends,tiesandlashings,tofancyknotsandbeyond,thoughtheoriginalisover100yearsold,thisfacsimilenevertheless deserves a place on a knot tyer’s bookshelf: there is, as Pawson puts it “much to discover”, not least for the historian.